The information below outlines the conference schedule for Day 1 of the RIS Online Conference 2025. The full conference runs between March 10 – 13 and details about the full conference can be found here.
Registration
Registration is required to receive links for all sessions:
Time zones
All times are listed in UK time zone (GMT). Please take a moment to double check all times through a time zone converter:
Monday Schedule (March 10)
Session 1: 8:00 to 8:25 am GMT
Why does research with international students need to ‘find purpose’?
Speakers: Jenna Mittelmeier and Sylvie Lomer (University of Manchester)
Abstract: The theme of this RIS Online Conference is ‘finding purpose in research with international students’. To start the conference, the organisers will reflect on the notion of ‘purpose’ and why it was selected for this year’s conference theme. We will discuss: What is ‘purpose’ in research with international students? And why do we need a greater sense of ‘purpose’ in this particular moment?
Session 2: 8:30 to 8:55 am GMT
Walking as metaphor: a creative activity for critical reflection in research with international students
Speaker: Vera Spangler (University of Surrey)
Abstract: This interactive activity invites researchers to reflect on their academic journeys through the metaphor of a walk, engaging in creative and critical inquiry about their positionality, purpose, and the structural challenges they face in working with international students. Drawing from critical research methodologies, the activity encourages participants to reflect on their personal paths, the communities they engage with, and their responsibility as researchers seeking to dismantle inequities. In a collaborative process, participants will map their journeys onto a shared, digital “research journey map”, allowing them to visually represent the intersections, divergences, and tensions within their collective experiences.
Participants begin by envisioning their journey as critical researchers: Is the path smooth, winding, uphill, or full of obstacles? They will be prompted to reflect on how these challenges mirror the broader systems – such as academia, funding, and politics – that shape their work. By mapping their personal and professional paths, participants will identify key “landmarks” of discovery, struggle, and purpose. These reflections will serve as starting points for deeper discussions about the ethical dimensions of their research and the inequities that have shaped their work. The activity then shifts towards exploring how researchers’ paths intersect with those of international students, inviting participants to consider how these journeys may differ or align. Finally, participants are prompted to envision the future direction of their research, considering the next landmark or stop on their path. A follow-up reflection encourages participants to explore insights into their role as researchers, their positionality, and how their work can be transformed through collaboration, advocacy, and empowerment. By the end of the session, participants will have a richer understanding of their responsibilities as critical researchers working with international students and the impact of structural inequities on their research journeys.
Session 3: 9:00 to 9:25 am GMT
Navigating agency in international student mobility
Speaker: Yun Yue (Torrens University)
Abstract: This study examines international student mobility (ISM) through the Chordal Triad of Agency framework, highlighting the interplay between past experiences, present evaluations, and future aspirations in shaping students’ decisions to study abroad. By examining Chinese master’s students in Australia, the study explores how students strategically exercise agency to navigate structural constraints and pursue their educational and professional goals. Existing theories such as push-pull theory, human capital theory, cultural capital theory, and the consumer decision-making model often frame ISM as a rational, cost-benefit calculation choice. However, this study reveals that ISM is a multi-layered, temporally embedded process shaped by social class habitus, career trajectories, and perceived structural constraints. The findings show that past experiences (iterational agency) inform students’ belief in education as a pathway for mobility, while present evaluations (practical-evaluative agency) involve financial feasibility, language readiness, and migration policies. Future aspirations (projective agency) diverge—graduates seek prestigious credentials to enhance employability, whereas professionals aim to escape career stagnation. Crucially, this study underscores the purpose of researching international students as a means to examine broader societal issues in education, culture, and social mobility. It sheds light on how individuals actively negotiate systemic constraints, redefine aspirations, and mobilize resources to achieve their life goals. Rather than passive recipients of educational opportunities, international students are active agents who construct meaning and purpose within complex social, economic, and institutional contexts. Although centered on Chinese students in Australia, the findings offer broader insights into how international students from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds exercise agency in pursuing education abroad, contributing to a deeper understanding of global education dynamics and the individual agency within it.
Session 4: 9:30 to 9:55 am GMT
Photography as a methodological third-space: Student knowledge about their material and embodied place-making
Heather Cockayne and Zhuomin Huang (University of Manchester)
Abstract: This presentation is based on our research exploring photography as a methodological third-space for understanding students’ place-making from a UK higher education campus. Our purpose-building here for researching with and by international students can be seen at both epistemological and methodological levels. Epistemologically, we seek to develop a scholarship of ‘student knowledge’ – knowledge produced by students, for students’ purposes, and centred on their interests and benefits. Methodologically, we explore an innovative ‘third-space’ which moves beyond the common descriptive understanding of ‘thirdness’ as the hybridity between two spaces/modalities, but highlights an active political stance that purposefully seeks to de-centre the dominant thinking, usually conveyed by language as a privileged medium of academic discourse. This third-space challenges traditional boundaries and embraces diverse forms and sources of knowledge, such as visual data, fostering a more inclusive approach to researching with and by students.
Drawing on a photographic dataset of 47 postgraduate students, our findings highlight the active, strategic agency of these students in shaping their embodied, material, and emotional well-being as they navigate and balance life in a new place. This third-space of student knowledge offers researchers innovative methodological opportunities and renewed curiosities for researching with and by international students, disrupting deficit narratives and moving beyond methodological nationalism and essentialist frames about international students.
Social activity: 10:05 to 10:45 am GMT
Speed networking activity
During this activity, we will use Zoom breakout rooms to randomly match two scholars for a brief, 5-minute discussion about their research interests. This will allow participants the opportunity to quickly meet approximately 7-8 scholars over the activity period. Attendees will be given a few short question prompts to aid their discussions. The aim of this activity is to offer a space for micro introductions which can lead to ongoing discussions after the conference between scholars with shared research agendas.
Session 5: 11:00 to 11:25 am GMT
Challenging the ‘old’ and identifying ‘new’ in research with international students
Speaker: Dangeni (Anglia Ruskin University)
Abstract: Research with international students continues to make thematic contributions, highlighting the significant role international students play in higher education. However, much of the existing literature tends to repeat the ‘old’, for example, themes of ‘experiences’, ‘adaptation’ and ‘integration’ from students’ accounts. It’s crucial to reflect on and challenge the ‘old’ as we see a more diverse international student population across educational contexts. In addition, we see more key stakeholders engaged in research with international students, such as those working with and supporting international students in institutions, yet the scope and findings of research are less published and communicated on a broader platform. As a researcher-practitioner in this field, I aim to share some reflections based on 1) the extensive ‘old’ and mostly deficit narratives in everyday practice, 2) a recent empirical project with staff and students on internationalisation, to critically reflect on the recurring themes in research and practice, as well as to share some new insights for researchers to consider. This presentation aims to stimulate reflection on some key considerations when designing and conducting research on this topic, particularly with international students. The session also aims to encourage researchers in the field to engage with practice and consider how research could enable research-informed and evidence-based practice for impactful and sustainable change in this area of research and practice.
Session 6: 11:30 to 11:55 am GMT
An unconventional hubris: Considering experiences of doctoral research with international students as an experienced practitioner
Speaker: Conor O’Reilly
Abstract: Following the award of my EdD in 2024, I have been attempting to critically and creatively address my future as a practitioner-researcher with international students. However, as a practitioner-researcher, there is an unshakeable feeling that my efforts came at a professional price where the research knowledge and experience carries little value to others. It has become apparent that to make the difference I sought would necessitate imagining myself again.
Practitioners can be considered to be operating on the front-line of internationalised higher education systems. Practitioners possess unique and valuable insights on the multiple educational and social issues facing international students where the influence and impact of multiple stakeholders can be felt in shared day-to-day interactions with students. Engaging in research has benefits for some practitioners, and pursuing doctoral studies is a common choice for experienced practitioners to engage in meaningful research and professional development. Conducting research allows practitioners to critically engage with professional issues, it equips individuals with the knowledge and resources to facilitate change, and it can empower practitioners to seek to make a difference in their setting. However, this approach can raise questions around professional identity and purpose which can be compounded by professional status, geographic location, and personal needs.
This discussion shall explore the initial reasons for deciding to take on the task of a doctorate, and the changes and challenges which have arisen since its completion. The complexities of being both a practitioner and a researcher, and the contradictions which make aligning both a persistent burden are pertinent. I question that if research can help to answer so many questions and to align with a greater community, then why do I as a practitioner feel ill-equipped to address the issues I face in my professional realm?
There are three more days of the conference! Check out the speaker schedules for other days: